Liberal groups and election campaigns cashed in on about $765 million from union members’ paychecks, according to a new report.

Unions nationwide shipped more than $100 million each year to liberal advocacy groups and political groups backing Democratic candidates between 2012 and 2016, according to labor watchdog group Center for Union Facts. Many of these groups are overtly political with more than $300 million spent supporting campaigns and ballot initiatives.

The AFL-CIO-backed Working America was the largest beneficiary of union resources, collecting more than $50 million from national, state, and local unions. Some of the campaigns were focused on advancing labor and Democratic interests at the state level, such as Working Families for Connecticut, the Lone Star Project, and Raise Wisconsin, while others were national organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, the Center for American Progress, and Catalist, a tool used to help drive get-out-the-vote efforts for liberal candidates.

But the spending did not end there, as Free Beacon reported that, “more than $6.6 million in union membership dues was sent to liberal media outlets, including the Nation Institute, American Prospect, and a production company owned by former MSNBC host Ed Schultz.”

According to a new study, all that cash had little to no effect on election campaign results.

Union Report Has North Carolina Connection

At least two of the groups listed in the report have a North Carolina connection, one of which is Working America.

Working America received $52,651,530 from union and labor groups. Working America, which is an offshoot of the AFL-CIO, has an affiliate located in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Working America website boasts “30,000” members

The website doesn’t have a lot of activity. The last ‘event’ posted was held in May of 2014 when Working America members gathered at the North Carolina General Assembly to beat pots and pans with spoons. It also included bad singing and kazoos.

The event details note that this protest was, “part of the Moral Monday/ Forward Together movement.”

The Moral Monday/Forward Together ‘movement’ was created expressly for the NC NAACP by Blueprint NC. Over the last four to five years, Union money has flooded the NC NAACP’s coffers.

Union Money Going to Far Left NC Group

North Carolina Citizens for Protecting Our Schools (NCCPOS) is another group mentioned in the union spending report.

The Center for Public Integrity describes NCCPOS as, “A group that is largely funded by the Washington, D.C., based National Education Association teachers’ union and a super PAC from the left-leaning America Votes group.”

Their website (http://protectncschools.org) is now defunct but it exists on internet archive site, The Way Back Machine.

The NCCPOS ‘about‘ page describes them as a “501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation dedicated to education citizens, leaders and public officials concerning the importance of adequately funding the state’s public education system, including pre-K, K-12, community colleges and universities throughout North Carolina.”

NCCPOS appears to be a front group for Progress NC. NCCPOS’ website claimed to run the teacher pay protest group, AIM Higher Now, however a fundraising email for Aim Higher was traced back to Progress NC as the sender.

Union Money Flows Into Far Left Offshoots

2014 IRS filings for NCCPOS show that the group only took in $345,100 in gross receipts. IRS filings for NCCPOS from 2015 show $3,780,153 in gross receipts. That’s a jump of over $3.4 million dollars.

In 2016, IRS records show that NCCPOS took in $3,345,530. That filing includes a list of expenditures totaling $2,721,750:

NC Families First – $1,475,000

America Votes – $809,000

Real Facts NC – $239,000

Advance NC Inc – $140,000

Progress NC Action – $48,750

Blueprint NC – $10,000

According to IRS filings from other organizations, in 2014, NCCPOS was granted $15,000 from The Tides Foundation and $157,405 from Rockefeller Family Fund. That same year, IRS records show that NCCPOS gave money to two groups: NC Families First ($140,000) and Wake Citizens for Good Governance IE PAC ($10,000).

NC Citizens for Protecting Our Schools has been active in judiciary elections. NC Citizens blew $275,000 in 2012 to support Supreme Court candidate Sam Ervin, who lost to Paul Newby. NCCPOS dumped $80,000 into the political PAC, Common Sense Matters, which in turn spent nearly $1 million during the 2012 election cycle.

According to records at the North Carolina Secretary of State, NCCPOS is registered to Michael Weisel, a Raleigh attorney with the Capital Law Group. According to those state records, the board members consist of Kristin Oshinsky (President), J.A. Perry (VP) and Michael Weisel (Secretary/treasurer).

Weisel is an attorney for Progress NC. The Secretary of State lists Weisel as the registered agent for a total of sixteen groups, two of which are Progress NC and its political arm, Progress NC Action.

A.P. Dillon is a Co-Founder and Managing Editor of American Lens and is the founder the popular North Carolina based blog, LadyLiberty1885.com. ​A.P. Dillon has been a contributor at Breitbart, IJ Review, DaTechGuy Blog, Civitas Institute and The Heartland Institute. Her writing has been cited by Conservative Review, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, PJ Media, The Blaze, Michelle Malkin, Twitchy, Truth In American Education, Breitbart and FOX news. She has been a leading voice of Common Core opposition in North Carolina since 2011.